Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-01-07
ATHLETIC SOCIETIES.
GYMNkslUMs ON THE GERMAN PLAN
ALL OVER THE COUNTRY.

~Father jain" and the Turuers-Stu-
Under Ban-CIs.ses ia "A Chicago Gym
naslum-The Pupils.
do you know that athletic sports have
in reality come into vogue among Ameri-
cans through the influence of the German
turner societies." remarked d member of
the age class" at the North Side Turner
hall few evenings ago You wouldn't
even have had Your national game of base
ball il II hadn't been for this influence To
he sure, athletics were stimulated by The
civil war. Plenty of young students who
went into the army lily prepared for hard
physical exercise came out strong, vigorous
men. They cOmprehended, then that they
might have had the same physical training
along with their mental development
From that time gymnasiuIus on the German
plan began TO spring up all over the Couu
try.
There are now few colleges. either for
men or women, without gynnasiums. Col
leges for men take especial pride in turning
out representative athletes. Il would
have been impossible previous To- the war
for a college 10 havo raised the money
that is now annually expended for the pro
motion of athletic exercises.
America has widened very materially
in the last three decades, and not little o.
it is due 10 the German element In all ath
letic matters Germany is the modern Greece
of the world. German gymnastics are
more scientific than the old Greek exercises,
which consisted mostly of games.
when were the first turner societies es-
tablishcd in the United States,'
I'm 1880, the next year after the exiles
came here. They were naturally obscure,
and had but few members Now there ars
81, 0C0 turner's in this country New York
has the largest number, Chicago next and
Milwaukee third. Milwaukee is our strong
hold There we have a school where pupils
are instructed in turning for professor
ships. 1t is called the Turnlehrer Seminar.
Its methods are modelled after those that Oh
tain in Germany"
THE WORD TURNER"
what is the meaning OF the word tur-
ner?''
Turner's are considerably divided in their
opinion in regard TO its origin. The word
turnkunst, or turnen, is now accepted as the
common German meaning Of gymnastics
Turning was phrase first employed by Pro-
fessor Ludwig Jahn-known to all turner's
sa Father Jahn'-who organized the first
society in 1872
after NapOleOn's invasion and Ger
many's defeat, Father jain conceived the
idea that if the German youth were trained
and developed physically they would be
able to successfully cope with France
Gymnastics had been but little practiced
up TO that date, and chiefly by the nobility.
The Germans then were stiff in their ways
aud dress. They put Themselves into gar
ments that swaddled them up like women.
Father Jahn said, I'VE Germans can't even
turn ourselves around. We have no use of
our bodies. No wonder the French
whipped us Come, let us join together for
the purpose Of turning ourselves around till
we are a. strong and As capable Of en-
durance a. any men. In this way the
turner's became distinct body.
1T was not difficult for jain to popular
ize any movement he undertook, for he was
not only writer and teacher of note, but
an agitator and an ardent patriot It was
but natural that a rapid growth OF intelli-
geuce. a. well as physical development, and
consequently ali advance in liberalism,
should be the result Of this coming together
of the youth of the land This liberal spirit
grew pace, AMI finally took shape in the ad
vocacy by the turner's of a republican
form of government for Germany. The
PruSsian government feared revolution,
and regarded these republican ideas with
alarm. The students societies and the
turnvereins were put under ban and con-
demned as hotbeds of dangerous liberalism
jain and one Of his favorite pupils were
arrested. In Januray, 1920, the govern
ment abolished turning in Prussia and closed
all OF the grounds. jain was acquitted and
released in 1925, but there was no more
turning i'll Prussia until 1912
Meantime, his pupil, Francis Lieber,
cane over to Boston in 1927, and took charge
of the fremont gymnasium, where hs also
established a swimming school
IN BIG Gymnasium
The teaching of gymnastics pays quite as
we'll us teaching other things. Some of our
instructors get $1,000, $1,000, $500,
81, 800, sLd upward per year"
DowptsaiIs in the great gymnasium were
$50 little girls clad in flannel suits Of navy
blue trimmed with white braid Small,
sturdy lassies Of marched as precisely and
held themselves as erect as trained SOL
diers. One little girl swung herself re-
peate,lly up and down ladder with her
hands. When some pair OF hands slipped
from the rings fastened to the ends OF the
long ropes that were SSpended from the cell
ing a great shout of laughter would 60 up as
the little girl fell fiat on the safety cushion
beneath.
We have nearly as many American pu-
pills as German American, said Professor
Henry Suder, the teacher in charge. Every
season our attendance increases We have,
too, another girls class, composed Of over
100 whose ages are from 10 to A.
There are three boys classes on the
north side, numbering in all over 400 Then
there's the young mems class and the age
class.
What is the age class "
"Oh, middle aged and old turner's who
like to keep their hand-or, rather their
bodieS-in turning exercises. They prac
tice but once a week. The others have two
evenings a week.
Besides these we have a ladies class
You would be astOnished TO see what they
can do. II woman wants to have grace
full walk, keep from growing fat, and have
good, clear complexion, just let her join
the turning class. Some of our ladiss hsv.
muscular development like athletes They
wear a dress ecially Designed for tn.
exercise Chicago News.
II is said that Maj Ben: Perley Poore,
the Washington correspondent, delights in
the use OF the words Of that dreadful old
man in David COpperfel who repeated
over and over, oh, my eyes and limbs
Oh INV lungs and liYeri OH ,rorOO porOOf'
The other day the playful major saw g
friend walking in front of him. so he stole
up quietly behind, jamned the friends hat